Back to Basics: Do You Know Who to Protect in an Executive Protection Program?

An organization’s CEO can motivate the larger workforce and inspire confidence in shareholders, steering a company toward achieving its goals. Along with CEOs, executives and VIPs have increasingly become the public names and faces of their respective organizations. So, when a company succeeds, at least some of the credit is usually attributed to one or more of those executives or star employees. But that high profile can backfire when a VIP leaves, faces reputational damage, or is harmed.

For instance, within two weeks of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, the company’s stock value dipped nearly 20 percent. This translated to a loss in market value of more than $110 billion.

While this incident refocused how organizations protect high-profile employees—such as members of the C-suite and other key employees—the foundation of a strong executive protection program remains constant.

ASIS International’s Executive Protection Standard emphasizes the criticality of intelligence and analysis in creating a program, such as leveraging insights gained from a critical risk assessment of the organization.  

For more information on building and supporting an executive protection program, access the standard here.